All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Mister Mets]

That is the most anemic pushback against lynching I have seen. I found it horrific, you would rather they didn't lynch when possible. And BTW lynching has nothing to do with justice.

And Trump blaming the Chinese for the Corona virus is where the increase in anti Asian hate crimes came from. So maybe telling your constituency that we should hate the Chinese isn't the best way to stop it.

The nuance would be lost on them.

I didn't think people here needed me to tell them lynching is bad.

To be fair, my comments are admittedly anemic compared to Congressman Chip Roy's comments about what to do with people who commit crimes against Asian-Americans.

[Kirby101]

Do you even hear yourself?

[MajorHoy]

... The right-wing media and GOP have themselves an ouroboros, they eat themselves, and it's gotta taste like white supremacy.

I figured it would taste like chicken, but what do I know?

[4saken1]

https://news.yahoo.com/breyer-mum-li...041056692.html

Hopefully this will happen while Patrick Leahy is still with us.

[Adam Allen]

I should note that I generally try to avoid anecdotal data. We know the problems with that as a way to discuss politics, as it's easy to lose perspective and its use can be potentially exploited by all sides. That's part of why I'm more likely to discuss data or theoretical situations.

You did ask for specific examples, but that it's not going to be all-encompassing. Anecdotes about celebrities are more readily available than anecdotes about ordinary people, so that was the main reason I referenced Munroe Bergdorf. I'm sure there's similar abuse directed at a trans professor I've never heard of, but celebrities are able to have a platform to discuss the abuse. According to your standard, if I'm aware that something likely happens but not the specific example of it, it's theoretical.

You could have situations in which people are bigoted against trans people without targeting any specific trans people. If the owner of a store in a small town makes it abundantly clear he will never hire a trans cashier, I would certainly view this as transphobic even if no trans person becomes aware of it. I'm well-aware that is a theoretical example, but we're unlikely to hear about scenarios that don't get any coverage. A non-theoretical example might be people going out of their way to indicate that they're super-straight (would never be attracted to someone trans.)

As a pedantic point, the question I was responding to was about bigotry as opposed to transphobia, and bigotry can be a broader category. Someone might argue that they're not transphobic (which is more about motives) if they're doing something harmful, like firing someone who is trans because they think it may hurt a business or their standing in the community. In this discussion, it's largely a distinction without a difference.

I think it's possible that some of the people who spread what appears to be a made-up story (in that it references discussions in a public forum involving events that would attract the attention that no one has provided evidence of in the more than four years since) did so to make trans people or people supportive of trans rights feel bad. I did describe that motivation as the worst case scenario since I'm not sure if it was the case. The other possible explanation is that someone who wanted to score political points made up that story, but given how it's well-known that irresponsible coverage of suicide increases the prevalence of suicide, that scenario still shows a callousness towards trans lives.

Okay, fair enough ... well, apologies if I'm asking a question you've already answered then, because I don't really read every post super meticulously. But what would you say to the question of whether Carano's joke contributed to discrimination against trans folk by mocking preferred pronouns? Wouldn't a celebrity doing that suggest that it is not something that should be taken seriously? Being misgendered is a serious concern for trans people; it causes real pain. I mean, I have known seen people say that makes them feel suicidal. Given the seriousness of that, even if her intention was to mock liberals indicating preferred pronouns, wouldn't there be harm in mocking it?

Why would her callousness to these concerns not meet the standard of bigotry broadly, or transphobia specifically -- particularly given that there are likely many younger fans of The Mandalorian, and once the controversy hit, any number of those kids may have been trans and been hurt by her (at best) indifference to their every day suffering?

[worstblogever]

In 2015, in 2016, and in 2017, “Crazy Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of former New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett, who after taking office in 2002, has advocated for intelligent design to be taught in public school instead of evolution, and claimed that he’s against same sex marriage because he believes children should be raised in two parent households (meaning he might not know gay adoption is a thing). Garrett voted against the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, the Voting Rights Act, and voted to shut down the federal government in 2013. He also publicly agreed with Birther conspiracy theorists that there’s something to President Obama’s birth certificate, and written letters to Obama to demand “the truth about what happened in Benghazi”. Garrett is also noteworthy in that he voted against disaster relief for both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy (the latter hit his own district, so at least there’s no double standard… he just doesn’t care at all). In January 2016, as millions of Americans continued to sign up for health insurance available through the Affordable Care Act, and the percentage of uninsured Americans was reaching appreciably lower numbers, Scott Garrett appears on Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council show, “Washington Watch”, where he claimed only “one or two” people were uninsured prior to Obamacare. The real number was, of course, 17 million people. So he was only off by about 17 million or so. In the 2016 elections, Scott Garrett was defeated by former White House speechwriter, Democrat Josh Gottheimer, and Garrett originally refused to concede the race, in spite of losing by a large margin of over 10,000 votes. His career seems to be finally over.


On this date in 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published its first profile of Gerald Greene, a member of the Georgia House of Representatives who has been hanging around that body since 1982. Yes, for 38 years this man has floated around the Georgia state capitol, with the first three decades of that run as a Democrat before he tucked his tail between his legs against the 2010 Tea Party Wave and became a Republican, content to sell out his principles over further political longevity. Since, he was allowed to run unopposed in 2012, faced only a Democrat whom he defeated with a mere 55% of the vote with Republican momentum in 2014, and in 2016, coasted to victory against a less-well funded GOP challenger in the primary.

Of course, perhaps Greene’s re-election chances took a hit for 2018 after he was shot in the leg in an armed robbery attempt in his district, where someone tried relieving Greene of several thousand dollars of storm relief donations to the Red Cross while he was reportedly at a convenience store. Sympathies turned to mockery after it was revealed that Greene was sitting with thousands of dollars in cash outside of a local adult cinema, the Foxy Lady Lounge where patrons can watch sex shows from behind glass. After initially claiming his presence at the adult cinema at the time of his shooting was a coincidence, Greene eventually admitted to being inside prior to the shooting.

Anyway, Gerald Greene, since becoming a Republican, has been supposedly championing “family values” as he votes for religious freedom legislation, and unconstitutional bills to place Ten Commandments monuments at the state capitol, and the other bit of hypocritical comedy is that the NRA give him a 93% rating, which I’m sure he feels great about with that bullet hole in his leg. We would comment more on the hypocrisy of Greene’s voting record, but he’s absent a great deal of the time, and that was before he was going to be recuperating from a gunshot wound.

Greene’s bizarre forays towards hanging out by porn stores probably are why he only narrowly won re-election in 2018 and 2020, meaning he is beginning his twentieth term in office now. In 2022, he will be 74 years old, and we’re hoping he just retires and goes off behind the porn store for some quality leisure time permanently.

[Tendrin]

There’s no doubt in Tennessee State Sen. Heidi Campbell’s (D) mind that Senate Republicans are retaliating against a state historical commission for voting to remove a bust of the slave trader, Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state capitol.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/t...-up-the-system

Remember, people scolded people tearing down monuments to the confederacy for not doing it through 'legal channels', and yet, when legal avenues are pursued, they are frequently blocked by things like, well, the racist state GOP or the Alumni system at colleges.

[Tendrin]

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sued the Biden administration on Wednesday, asking a federal judge to block a provision of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill which bans states from using federal aid to finance tax cuts.

The lawsuit comes one day after twenty-one of Yost’s fellow Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to Yellen with an ultimatum: if she does not issue guidance allowing them to proceed to use federal dollars to finance state tax cuts by next week, they will take “appropriate additional action” to ensure their freedom to enact “tax relief.”

Federal supremacy ought to hold the line here but who knows with the current federalist society nonsense and our unrepresentative, overly conservatively-packed judiciary.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/o...state-tax-cuts

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Racist Misogyny Of The Atlanta Spa Shootings

Let’s face facts: The fetishization of Asian women is, in itself, racist. Meanwhile....

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Georgia Sheriff Regrets Captain’s Comments About Alleged Shooter’s ‘Bad Day’

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office later announced that Capt. Jay Baker would no longer be the spokesperson on the deadly Atlanta-area shootings. GOOD! That was a ridiculously STUPID thing to have said. Meanwhile....

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When Law Enforcement Fails Hate Crime Victims

Police are often reluctant or outright refuse to link crimes to racial animus, which only further traumatizes those in the targeted community. Perhaps because white cops don't want to link white thugs to racist attacks.

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GOP Slams Biden’s ‘Unlawful’ Border Actions After Supporting Similar Trump Moves

Republicans eagerly supported Donald Trump when he circumvented Congress on the border wall. Now they say Joe Biden can’t do the same. The hypocrisy of Qpublicans is staggering.

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Rand Paul Gets Schooled On Coronavirus Variants After Calling Fauci’s Masks ‘Theater’

“Masks are protective,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said before informing the senator that COVID-19 can still pose threats to those already infected or vaccinated. No, Rand Punk's grousing was "theater".

[Mister Mets]

Do you even hear yourself?

I could've cut some words.

With the response to Chip Roy's comments, there seems to be some kind of subtext that people aren't articulating, a dog whistle they're picking up on but not identifying. I'm curious if the people who are upset are all upset for the same reason, or if they're picking up on different things.

Okay, fair enough ... well, apologies if I'm asking a question you've already answered then, because I don't really read every post super meticulously. But what would you say to the question of whether Carano's joke contributed to discrimination against trans folk by mocking preferred pronouns? Wouldn't a celebrity doing that suggest that it is not something that should be taken seriously? Being misgendered is a serious concern for trans people; it causes real pain. I mean, I have known seen people say that makes them feel suicidal. Given the seriousness of that, even if her intention was to mock liberals indicating preferred pronouns, wouldn't there be harm in mocking it?

Why would her callousness to these concerns not meet the standard of bigotry broadly, or transphobia specifically -- particularly given that there are likely many younger fans of The Mandalorian, and once the controversy hit, any number of those kids may have been trans and been hurt by her (at best) indifference to their every day suffering?

This gets dangerously close to suggesting that nothing anyone takes seriously should be joked about, which has a chilling effect on speech. Discussions will get really boring if that becomes the accepted standard.

Pronouns in social media bios may be meaningful to theoretical trans people, but it is a signal adopted by a larger circle. Making fun of something pushed by a larger group isn't the equivalent of refusing to employ trans people, spreading lies that reinforce a staggeringly negative stereotype, or making the point to add to social media bios that you don't want to sleep with trans people.

[Tendrin]

Good lord, dude.

[Tami]

McCarthy tries to rewrite history by claiming that he didn't back Trump's efforts to overturn the election

(CNN)House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to rewrite history on Thursday by claiming that he was not involved in former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the election in a heated exchange during a news briefing.

When asked by CNN's Manu Raju why it was acceptable for him to support Trump's efforts to overturn the presidential election in Congress but to criticize Democrats for doing the same in a contested Iowa US House race, McCarthy repeatedly rejected the notion that he was trying to overturn the election at all.

"You're saying something that is not true," the California Republican said when Raju stated that Trump had tried to overturn the election results in Congress and McCarthy supported that effort.

McCarthy's explanation flies in the face of reality. Trump tried to pressure Congress to overturn the election and McCarthy raised no concerns about it. He also backed a Texas lawsuit to invalidate millions of votes, and ultimately voted in favor of overturning the election results of two states during votes that took place after the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

[Kirby101]

I could've cut some words.

With the response to Chip Roy's comments, there seems to be some kind of subtext that people aren't articulating, a dog whistle they're picking up on but not identifying. I'm curious if the people who are upset are all upset for the same reason, or if they're picking up on different things.

No subtext, he invoked lynching as a viable solution for justice.

“We believe in justice. There’s old sayings in Texas about 'find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree,'” he said. “You know, we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that. Round up the bad guys. That’s what we believe.”

And when told that what those "oak trees" really meant was the lynching of black people, he said "Yeah, so?"

Asked about the racial connotations of lynching for African Americans, Roy said, “Yeah, so? It was a metaphor for justice.”

You find it okay to discount the thousands of African Americans who were lynched?

Of course I expect this from Republicans, who see the Capitol insurrectionists as heroes and BLM as terrorists

[DrNewGod]

IMO, if the republican party doesn't admit that it has a racism problem then nothing will be done about.

Oh, that won't ever happen. They're too busy saying Democrats and antiracist activists are the "real racists".

Funny thing was, they were actually on that road after Obama's second victory, trying to reassess where the party needed to go. Broadening their appeal racially was one of the findings. Then Trump grabbed the wheel in 2015, energized the worst of their base, and anybody that might have caught them up with civilization bailed out, if they didn't get jettisoned by the new Master's Cabal.

[OopsIdiditagain]

The Racist Misogyny Of The Atlanta Spa Shootings

Let’s face facts: The fetishization of Asian women is, in itself, racist. Meanwhile....

**********

Georgia Sheriff Regrets Captain’s Comments About Alleged Shooter’s ‘Bad Day’

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office later announced that Capt. Jay Baker would no longer be the spokesperson on the deadly Atlanta-area shootings. GOOD! That was a ridiculously STUPID thing to have said. Meanwhile....

I don't know why people keep coming up with excuses for incels.